Setting Career Goals Helps Addiction Treatment

By William Steiniger, Ph.D., L.P.C.
Managing Director

Strange as it may seem, career counseling is often non-existent in most addiction treatment centers and behavioral health counseling even though a majority of the average person's waking hours are spent working. Yet, lack of job, career or life satisfaction can have a tremendous effect on self-esteem and become a major factor contributing to chemical dependency and such things as anxiety and depression. Comprehensive career counseling services can be a critical component in the context of recovery.

A significant percentage of those who are chemically dependent have career-related issues that have contributed to their addiction. They are bored or unfulfilled with their work, or their drinking or drug use has affected their job performance to such a degree that others lose trust in them and their abilities. Some lose their job and their standard of living.

At Desert Canyon Treatment Center, at least 85 percent of our clients request our in-depth career assessment and guidance program, reflecting what a significant issue it is. For example, out of my last seven clients, four were making minor career shifts, two were considering major career changes, and one was in his father's business and hated what he was doing. This 30-year-old was in charge of sales and marketing, despite the fact that he is an introvert and his personality was unsuited for the job. However, rather than talking to his father about his unhappiness with his job, he suppressed his feelings and drank to cover up his discomfort and unhappiness. Career testing and counseling showed that his interests lay in technical areas. When he began to explore work in this area, he found new purpose and meaning in this direction.

Yet, today’s addiction counselors involved in early recovery or relapse issues generally do not address career issues at the same time. Often, their training did not include in-depth exploration of this area. Yet, as addiction counselors, they help individuals deal with life changes during the transition from use to sobriety.

Assessing and/or reprioritizing career goals can be considered one of those life changes that can bring tremendous benefit to someone in treatment. By addressing career issues, counselors can help individuals make life transitions more effectively and improve their ability to make healthier choices. Importantly, career counseling can increase the patient's satisfaction in life, an important consideration inside and outside the chemical dependency setting.

Client Readiness for Career Work
Career testing should begin almost immediately: no later than the second week of addiction treatment. This is because clients must be free from the effects of detox and be acclimated to their new setting before they have the necessary clarity.

Testing starts by assessing the two key predictors for career success, namely, motivational patterns (interests) and personality dynamics (traits.) This is reviewed with the client for approximately 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Then, clients assess their skills and abilities through a work autobiography and through the use of tools such as the Quick Job Hunting Map as published by Ten Speed Press.

Clients in the career program are then encouraged to research the library for new choices and new employment options. Then, these clients are helped with key elements of marketing themselves, including resumé and letter development, interviewing strategies and networking procedures. As a result of this approach, clients find new meaning, passion, and greater satisfaction in life, which supports their overall goal of lifelong abstinence.

Career counseling also may increase job satisfaction for clients who do not wish to change jobs or careers, but help them increase their personal and professional productivity within their current field.

This type of program would also be advantageous in adolescent treatment programs. Adolescents who are using drugs have probably missed the school career programs. By taking away the planning years, they lose the vital early stages of career development, the time to try things out. Without career counseling at this early stage, they most likely will have false starts and lack of meaningful career direction later in life. At some point, they must reassess who they are, gain new awareness of themselves, explore the world of work, and utilize the career resources in libraries and elsewhere.

More than 30 years ago, I developed a system that offers key strategies for attaining satisfaction in one's career and understanding one's true purpose. When key components of this system are used within a behavioral health counseling program or chemical dependency treatment center, these strategies help build focus and commitment.

Career counseling serves as a mirror to the client and helps a person discover what is meaningful in his or her life. This is particularly vital to help maintain sobriety in the long term.

Eight Key Strategies
This structured model has helped thousands of individuals make career and life changes. It is comprised of eight key strategies:

Use Successful Models
Learn how to understand, discover and apply key success models to life and to learn how others have attained success in their lives and careers. This will save time, money and effort in reaching career goals. Many of these models can be found in books by Tony Robbins, Robert Fritz, Dennis Waitley, John Malloy and Gail Sheehey. Success is no accident! Tony Robbins, for example, has said, "Success is the on-going process of striving to become more."
Build Awareness
Learn to become more aware of yourself and the issues that may affect your potential. It is estimated that there are 168 current therapies that assist individuals in better understanding how conflicts, stress and personal concerns can be addressed effectively. Neuro-linguistic programming is one of these systems.
Define Your Personal Model
What is the personal career model that you are using? Begin to identify your skills, abilities, aptitudes, traits and other key elements. The ability to market yourself effectively is directly related to your marketable skills, abilities and experience. Having an accurate assessment of your potential creates action and momentum.
Explore Options
There are literally thousands of career possibilities to explore. Get help in making the best decision about their careers. Maybe you should move from purchasing to the new opening in marketing. Find out what is available in the areas that have particular "suitability" for you.
Do Market Research
Research the job market, develop a network and build a bridge toward a new career. The library and the internet can play an integral part in identifying organizations and people whom should be targeted. However, talking to a person who is knowledgeable about a field can make the difference in getting the most up-to-date information quickly. 80-85 percent of the better paying jobs are not advertised, and research indicates that it takes 1,470 resumes mailed out to secure the offer of a job!
Create a Successful Career Image
Make sure you understand how to make the best impression by using the three key elements of dress, body language and speech. The number one reason for rejection in an interview is personal appearance. That includes the appearance of your resume. The Career Development Journal has stated that 60 percent of all resumes are primarily judged by how they look. In personal face-to-face situations, experts have determined that 90 percent of all communication is non-verbal. Furthermore, it is estimated that recruiters can usually make up their minds about a candidate within the first minute of an interview. Find out about your prospective work environment and dress appropriately.
Build Rapport and Communication
Establish personal rapport and develop good communication skills that are necessary to work with prospective employers. Research indicates that employers say that prospective employees must have some basic qualifications. But they also say they must like them personally. The more they can adapt their experience, skills and abilities to the interviewer's mental image of the job, the better chance they have of being hired.
Ask For and Get Support
Strong support systems help everyone create the wanted results. Seek out others who are engaged in the same activity. Develop a network of contacts in your field who will provide the opportunity to ultimately support your vision and potential.

Lack of success is one’s career can cause significant stress and low self-esteem. Developing a career that is in harmony with one’s personality, goals and interests can be a critical contribution to building a new life after treatment.